Burns, superheated gases killed firefighters

CINCINNATI (AP) — Two suburban firefighters trapped in the basement of a burning house a week ago died of burns and from inhaling superheated gases, a coroner ruled Friday.

Colerain Township fire Capt. Robin Broxterman, 37, and firefighter Brian Schira, 29, died in the blaze. Hamilton County Coroner O’dell Owens said both died within minutes of falling into the basement.

“They fell into the heart of the fire,” Owens said.

Broxterman and Schira had been in the basement but went up some stairs into a living room, Owens said. Because the fire had burned the crossbeams that supported the floor, it collapsed, and they slid back into the basement.

When that happened, their masks apparently came off or were loosened, allowing the superheated gases to get to them, Owens said.

“This was a very intensive fire,” he said.

The state fire marshal’s office has ruled the cause of the fire was accidental and electrical in nature and has turned its findings over to the Hamilton County sheriff’s office.

Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Barnett said that did not necessarily mean there was anything suspicious about the fire because the sheriff’s office investigates any fire in which someone dies.

A spokeswoman for the Hamilton County prosecutor declined to comment on a separate investigation by that office.

Attorney R. Scott Croswell III, who represents homeowners Matt and Sharyn Cones, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The Cones have been staying with relatives and could not be reached. They had spoken to The Cincinnati Enquirer for a story published Friday.

“I’d lose that house 100 times over if people wouldn’t have died,” Sharyn Cones told the Enquirer.